Today as we address Life Management – Part 7: Finances/Stewardship in One-to-One let’s turn to our text 1Timothy 6:17-19 once again: 1 Timothy 6:17-19 (NLT) 17Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. 18Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. 19By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.1 Timothy 6:17-19 (NLT) As I noted yesterday, we see in this brief instruction for rich people, Paul tells those of us who are rich to make sure we do the following: 1) Not to be proud; 2) not to trust in our money, because it’s unreliable; 3) Trust in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment; 4) Use our money to do good; 5) Be rich in good works, generous to those in need, and always ready to share with others; 6) As we do all these things we will store up our treasure as a good foundation for the future; 7) As we do all these things we will experience “true life.” I hope you remember I made the case yesterday that nearly all of us who live in the U.S. are “rich” by comparison to the rest of the world, so these verses apply directly to how we are to handle our finances, and live as stewards of all God has entrusted to us. Yesterday we looked at point one of the seven: don’t be proud. Today let’s look at Paul’s second and third instructions, which we can summarize as don’t trust in money, but trust in God.

When Paul tells us not to trust in money, he adds it is “so unreliable.” Interesting that a man who lived millennia before the development of stock markets, bankruptcies and the like said money is “so unreliable.” Any of us who have been around for a couple of decades understand money is unreliable, but Paul lived in a day when Jesus had already said of money that we ought not store it up on earth where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal, but to store it in heaven. (See Matthew 6:19-21) As a Pharisee before he became a believer, Paul was more than likely better off financially than many of the early Christians, yet he understood when it comes to trust, we need to put our trust in the source of security and joy in our lives–God–rather than money, which so many consider to be the source of security and joy. The truth is money is a “dissatisfier.” If we don’t have enough to provide for basic needs we will be dissatisfied, but we can never have enough money to be satisfied, since as Paul reminded us it is so unreliable. We may save our money for a “rainy day,” but then instead we get a “hurricane.” Paul reminds us the thing that is worthy of our trust is not a thing, but a person: God. He also tells us something we may not often consider, and perhaps some of us have never considered: We can trust in God, because he gives us “all we need for our enjoyment.” Have you ever considered God wants us to enjoy our lives? He does. God loves us more than we love ourselves. He knows what we need before we ask Him in prayer, yet calls us to ask anyway, because it builds our relationship with Him. God wants us to know the joy of His provision in every area of our lives. Yet, so often when it comes to finances/ stewardship we tend to think it’s our job to make the money, our job to decide what we do with the money, and our job to be sure we have enough to be “secure.” Paul reminds us our trust must be in God not our bank accounts. That doesn’t mean we aren’t to work hard to earn a living, as we talked about last week. It means as we’re working hard to make a living, we remember to thank God for giving us the ability to work, and for the job we have that gives us the ability to make a living. God is the source of every good and perfect gift as the Apostle James reminded us, so we need to trust Him, and as we do that to remember He created us to love Him and to enjoy Him and our lives.

I’m not saying as Jesus’ followers every moment of life will be enjoyable. Far from it. Since Adam and Eve rejected God’s original goodness and purpose for their lives, life has come with sweat, toil, pain, disappointment and all the “fruits” of sin. In the midst of that, God came to us in the man, Jesus Christ, to redeem us. That literally means He paid the purchase price for our freedom from sin, so we can enjoy life in the midst of all the toil and trouble we find in it. When we understand how much God loves us, through everything He has done for us, it is easy to trust in Him instead of money. When we forget how much God loves us, and all He has done for us, we forget to trust Him. Then life becomes one long effort to find something or someone else to trust, and we miss out on the joy God has for us. So many people fail to understand that finances/ stewardship are not so much about giving God His due, as they are letting God be in charge of all we are and have, because He designed us and knows what’s best for us. As we’ll see tomorrow when we use our money and our lives to do good we enjoy the best, possible life. For today, though, let’s remember that God’s intention for our lives is for us to trust Him and put Him first, before money, before other relationships, before anything.

Today, as we turn to our application of Life Management – Part 7: Finances/Stewardship, I want to challenge us once again to invest some time in reflecting on our understanding of what it means to be rich and to be faithful stewards of the finances God has entrusted to us by virtue of where we live, the skills we have and the efforts we have made, and particularly how we ought to live since the vast majority of us who are reading this are rich in this present world. Here’s our application project: In your One-to-One notebook or computer file write the words “rich” “trust.” Then write your definition of those words. I know you already defined “rich” yesterday, but maybe today’s reflection has given you a fuller or different understanding of the word, so you can adapt it if that is the case. After you’ve done that consider who you trust ultimately. Is it God or is it your money? Take a few more minutes and reflect on this week’s theme verses once again, and write any thoughts that come to mind about how they encourage or challenge you to be faithful as a rich person, and particularly how they encourage or challenge you to trust in God rather than money.

Heavenly Father, Thank You that I can trust in You for all my needs, and know that You created me so I can love You and enjoy You forever. This I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.